The Indian government's guidelines that allow fully vaccinated international travellers from 11 countries to forego home quarantine on arrival in India will come into effect from today.
The guidelines released on October 20 had said that travellers coming from a country with which India has reciprocal arrangements for mutual acceptance of WHO-approved Covid-19 vaccines would not have to self-isolate but would have to produce a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR test.
All airlines will have to check the test report before taking passengers on board.
The 11 countries that India has signed agreements with are the UK, France, Germany, Nepal, Belarus, Lebanon, Armenia, Ukraine, Belgium, Hungary and Serbia.
“In view of increasing vaccination coverage across the globe and the changing nature of the pandemic, the existing guidelines for international arrivals in India have been reviewed,” the Union health ministry had said last Wednesday.
Travellers coming from these countries who are fully vaccinated and 15 days have elapsed since completion of COVID-19 vaccination schedule, they shall be allowed to leave the airport and shall self monitor their health for 14 days post arrival, according to the revised guidelines.
While planning for travel, all travellers should submit self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal before the scheduled travel and upload a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report. This test should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey, according to the guidelines.
Each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to the authenticity of the report and will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise.
These guidelines for international arrivals from these countries supersede all guidelines issued on the subject on and after February 17, 2021, the Union health ministry said.
Travellers from countries other than those considered at-risk will have to undergo a test on arrival at the airport, home quarantine for seven days and take another test on the eighth day of arrival. The same protocol will apply to partially vaccinated or non-vaccinated travellers from the 11 exempted countries.
Those arriving from at-risk countries—South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe—will have to follow additional measures mandated by the health ministry.
- With inputs from PTI
